1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an enclosed vise having a stationary jaw and two movable jaws for use in the precision machining of work pieces.
2. Description of the Related Art
Two station machining vices are known in the art. Examples of such two station vises are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,350 to Chick, U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,183 to Krason et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,674 to Bernstein, U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,636 to Swann, U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,073 to Lenz and U.S. Pat. No. 4,685,663 to Jorgensen.
Further, a number of U.S. patents, in particular U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,529,183; 4,098,500; 4,685,663 and 5,024,427 disclose various methods of mounting jaw blocks to the vise slides.
However, all of these known vises suffer the problem that they have at least an open channel accommodating the vise slides into which machine chips and machining fluid may be introduced. As a result, the operation of the vise is degraded due to the build up of these materials. Further, it is necessary to clean the vise in order to avoid any significant degradation in vise operation. Such a requirement results in down time for the vise thereby incurring maintenance expenses while losing production.
Further, vises of this type generally fixedly mount the stationary, center jaw by bolting the jaw to the shoulders, or rails, of the vise. As a result, replacement of the stationary, center jaw is relatively time consuming, again incurring labor costs while reducing production efficiency.
U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 08/113,048 and 08/229,806, having the inventor in common with this application, are also drawn to two station machining vises. They disclose offset mechanisms and latching means for attaching jaws to the movable slides. They also disclose a brake mechanism for restricting movement of one movable slide until the other movable slide has had its movement impeded. The disclosures of both applications are incorporated herein by reference thereto.